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Cisco MDS Series vs Dell PowerStore comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco MDS Series
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
4th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Dell PowerStore
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
234
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (4th), NAS (2nd), All-Flash Storage (1st), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Enterprise SAN category, the mindshare of Cisco MDS Series is 10.0%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerStore is 14.0%, down from 33.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise SAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerStore14.0%
Cisco MDS Series10.0%
Other76.0%
Enterprise SAN
 

Featured Reviews

VK
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Reliable storage networking has ensured seamless multi-protocol access and continuous redundancy
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI functionality or better integration capabilities would be advantageous for Cisco MDS Series. Any new AI-related features or functionality added to Cisco MDS Series would represent a positive advancement.
reviewer2304864 - PeerSpot reviewer
Vmware Windows Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Resilience has supported proactive management and secured audit readiness across multiple sites
The resilience in Dell PowerStore benefits my company from an auditing perspective because we know we have that resilience in place. I see Dell PowerStore playing a bigger role in the future because we are starting to use it more, and that is pushing it. The biggest return on investment for me when using Dell PowerStore is scalability. Scalability is key. I can amplify that scalability is the biggest return on investment because we have redundancy between two sites; if something goes down, we have to manage it, but we want to do it proactively.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It enables us to integrate and load balance between multiple layer one fiber vendor links, which is very useful."
"The product is very stable and performs well."
"The stability has been commendable with no major performance issues and the system consistently provides users the ability to access the network without any problems."
"Cisco MDS 9148 SAN switch model is the best product, highly reliable and low cost, easy to deploy, easy to upgrade, easy to configure, easy to administer, and it gives effective performance when used for SAN switch connectivity between hosts and storage boxes."
"MDS's reliability is at a high level, the issues with these switches are extremely rare, and the whole product line is very predictable and stable."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the devices, databases, and zoning."
"This solution is required for any type of IT infrastructure for Storage Networking and provides high availability for storage service."
"The product is easy to use."
"All of these features are done automatically and optimized, so customers do not need additional setup to have these features, which is excellent for fighting cybersecurity attacks."
"The solution is extremely stable."
"Dell PowerStore is a great machine for storage with big performance when data is needed."
"We have implemented Dell PowerStore for small sites needing mirrored storage. To ensure high availability, the storage is set up in two different locations, possibly in the same building but far apart."
"With Dell PowerStore, we're getting close to 200,000 IOPS, which has doubled our performance."
"My advice to other organizations considering Dell PowerStore is to look at the reliability and the history of the company and its heritage."
"When compared to Pure Storage, Dell PowerStore's cost was quite attractive."
"It provides a big benefit when upgrading a new VMware environment. For example, in a big environment with 10 to 30 ESXs, you can take everything and put that into PowerStore. So, it is cost-effective, which is very important and has been massive for us. You reduce almost 80% from the hardware and work directly from PowerStore. Building hardware, especially in a big VMware environment, is a big issue for my organization."
 

Cons

"Cisco MDS Series can improve by having API functionality for automation and programming."
"It is quite a stable product. It should be shipped with the latest firmware to avoid download and upload schema at the beginning of the initial setup. There should also be the possibility of downgrading the firmware when required. WebUI needs DCNM instead a web-based GUI should be made available like Brocade san switch."
"Cisco MDS Series could improve by adding more gigahertz. However, they are doing this over time."
"The product is very expensive."
"The solution's management interface and GUI need improvement."
"Cisco MDS Series can improve by having SAN Manager with life cycle management features and Integration with 3rd party storage monitoring tools."
"The GUI client is Java-based and we know that Java is not secure, so everyone disables it."
"The licensing model could be less complicated."
"Dell PowerStore currently only allows us to copy data from our main production system to the disaster recovery site."
"Many customers are looking for a cyber recovery feature included in PowerStore. We would like to see this added in a future release."
"The only thing is that with PowerStore, we don't have a solution for the file object."
"It could be improved to be cheaper for us."
"Response time is still an area with room for improvements when it comes to the response time and delivery of a solution."
"We have not seen an ROI and it would be good to have an ROI calculator made available by Dell."
"Dell PowerStore is an unfinished product compared to the HPE systems because it is relatively new."
"For a rating of ten, what's missing is knowing quite reliably that you end up with the right support team for your problem because way too often you have a problem, call support, and then end up with people who repair laptops."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing cannot be considered an advantageous trait of the solution since it is expensive. I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"It's perpetual licensing and maintenance is a recurrent cost."
"The price of the Cisco MDS Series is high."
"We are happy with the pricing that we get from Dell."
"The solution's price was comparable to other products for the use case, size, and setup."
"Dealing with the licensing part of the product is very simple, especially considering the fact that we don't have many licenses associated with the tool."
"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"Dell PowerStore is not a cheap solution."
"The solution’s pricing is always too high."
"When we compared it with the other solutions, the pricing of PowerStore was equal. The pricing is good."
"The pricing structure and licensing model of Dell PowerStore are very good and I like it. We chose it because it was reasonably priced and met our requirements"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business78
Midsize Enterprise45
Large Enterprise116
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco MDS Series?
The pricing could be improved as the solution is very expensive. I am on a yearly payment basis.
What needs improvement with Cisco MDS Series?
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI f...
What is your primary use case for Cisco MDS Series?
Cisco MDS Series is primarily used for connecting storage arrays. The multi-protocol feature supports all protocols and functionality working seamlessly. Virtual SANs operate without any issues. Pe...
What do you think about Dell EMC PowerStore? Is it actually a new product?
PowerStore is flexible, scalable, simple, and performant with market-leading economics for a wide range of legacy and next-gen apps. It is only Flash and can support many workloads from today's app...
How does Dell's EMC PowerStore compare with its EMC Unity XT?
Dell EMC PowerStore is a unified storage platform that has the added benefit of being scalable. The automated management of resources feature provides a more simple administration. I found the flex...
What's the difference between DELL EMC Powerstore and Powermax NVMe?
Dell PowerStore is an all-solid-state midrange storage system. It has many internal elements taken from other Dell offerings and integrated into the PowerStoreOS. The installation and setup have a ...
 

Also Known As

Cisco MDS 9100, Cisco MDS 9222i, Cisco MDS 9700
PowerStore
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Rugby League
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco MDS Series vs. Dell PowerStore and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.